IRELAND'S ASSISTANT coach Niamh Briggs believes that Ireland have nothing to lose this weekend when they take on France.
Briggs has said the game against Les Bleus is a "free shot" for Greg McWilliams side when they play their second game in Saturday's TikTok Six Nations game.
Ireland were beaten 29-17 by the Welsh in their opening game of the tournament and now face a French side who will be brimming with confidence after beating Italy 39-6 in their opening fixture.
Ireland have never beaten the French away from home in the women's format, but have nearly got over the finish line twice before, Briggs was part of both sides in 2012 and 2014.
Briggs feels that the France test will be a major test for many of the Irish players this weekend and that lessons can be learnt from the fixture
Wales got their Women's Six Nations campaign off to a successful start by coming from behind to seal a bonus-point 27-19 win over Ireland in Dublin 🏉
— BBC Sport Wales (@BBCSportWales) March 27, 2022
Briggs said"
"I think [getting] the result is the big thing, I've played in France lots of times and we've performed, but just did not have the belief to get over the line. It's always been about fine margins," she said.
"This group is under no illusions. The French are so good at coming out to support rugby, I'm sure there will be a massive crowd in Toulouse.
"It's a difficult place to go, but this is a free shot, we have to go and enjoy the experience and occasion.
"This will be the first time we'll have played in a stadium like this with a huge crowd, and they're always really noisy. Our message to the players will be to enjoy it, soak it in and learn as much as you can.
France are a more powerful side than Ireland and pose a bigger advantage in the size department, Briggs believes Ireland will have to overcome that problem if they are to win
"That was definitely something that came out after the game, the power of Wales. It wasn't so much their power, but the experience they had to be able to understand that they were on top.
"To be fair to our lineout coach Dave Gannon, he's one of the biggest rugby nerds I've ever met, he's honed in on that maul defense, making sure we're very much across our detail.
"It's not a naive thing to say, but we have to continue to focus on ourselves, we know the likes of France and England will be hugely powerful, and that's what they base their game off. We have to concentrate on moving teams around.
"Although they were powerful towards the end, we still had a 93% tackle rate for us, and we have to keep improving on that."
Lucy Mulhall(wing) is the only injury doubt after suffering a head injury against Wales.
Beibhinn Parsons is expected to start this weekend after starting on the bench late last weekend.
Dublin , Ireland - 24 March 2022; Head coach Greg McWilliams, left, with assistant coaches, from second left, Rob Sweeney, Niamh Briggs and Dave Gannon during Ireland Women's Rugby squad training at the IRFU High Performance Centre at the Sport Ireland Campus in Dublin. (Photo By Brendan Moran/Sportsfile via Getty Images)